HILLSBORO -- A 29-year-old woman who ran a day-care center in her Tigard home was sentenced Wednesday to two years' probation for fondling a 15-year-old girl who worked for her after school.

Stephanie Kay Hennig also must register as a sex offender after pleading guilty to two counts of third-degree sexual abuse.

Hennig is prohibited from any contact with minor girls during her probation and must undergo sex offender treatment.

Hennig apologized in court, barely able to get the words out through loud sobs. Per C. Olson, her private attorney, told Washington County Circuit Court Judge Thomas W. Kohl that this was a "life-changing incident" for the woman.

"Ms. Hennig, although attracted to the girl -- inappropriately so -- recognized it was wrong and showed a lot of confusion about it," he said.

Hennig hired the teenager last March after caring for the girl's younger sister for 3½ years at her in-home day-care center on Southwest Ironwood Loop.

Prosecutor Andrew Erwin said Hennig told the girl she was "hot," had erotic dreams about her, and touched the girl's breasts and buttocks through her clothing nearly every day.

The girl's mother called police in October after finding a love letter Hennig wrote to her daughter.

The state closed Hennig's day-care center in October and suspended her provider's license. She was licensed in November 2002 to care for up to 10 children.

Police and the Oregon Department of Human Services determined that Hennig had not abused any other children in the day-care home, including her own two.